Adjustable reclining chair



A. LORENZ ET AL ADJUSTABLE RECLININ'G CHAIR July 18, 1944.

Filed 001;. 3, 1941 Z SheetS-Sheet 1 ATToRNE T u y 1944- A. LORENZ ETAL ADJUSTABLE RECLINING CHAIR Filed 001;. 3, 194]. 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS Patented July- 18, 1944 ADJUSTABLE REOLINING cnam Anton Lorenz, Chicago, Ill., and Hans Luckhardt. Berlin, Germany Application October 3, 1941, Serial No. 413,398 Claims. (Cl. 155106) Our invention relates to an adjustable reclining chair, and more particularly to an adjustable reclining chair or the like with a polygonal structure formed by a back-rest a seat and connectlng link-means pivotally interconnected with each other, wherein one point of the polygonal structure is pivoted to a support and at least one guiding link having its ends pivoted to the support and the polygonal structure respectively is provided for controlling the movements of the members of the polygonal structure during the adjustment of the reclining chair from one position into another one.

One object of our invention is to provide a reclining chair of above described type wherein the movable elements are arranged in such a way, that they are not moved or shifted immediately from the sitting position into a reclining position, when the user of the chair lets himself down on the chair rather heavily or suddenly.

Another object of our invention is to provide a reclining chair of above described type wherein.

the guiding links are substantially parallel to the leg-rest when the movable elements of the reclining chair are in the sitting position.

In order to carry out our invention into practice we provide a reclining chair or the like comprising: a support, a back-rest, a seat, a leg-rest, said seat extending between said back-rest and said leg-rest and being pivoted thereto, connecting link-means, one connecting link-means being arranged on each side of the chair, each of said connecting link-means'including a short extension of the leg-rest and a long link hingedly connected with each other, the free end of said long link being pivoted to an intermediate point of the back-rest above the pivot point between the back-rest and the seat, said back-rest, said seat and said connecting link-means forming a polygonal structure having unequal sides, one point of said polygonal structure being pivoted to said support, and at least one guiding link, one end of said guiding link being pivoted to said support at a point below the seat, the other end of said guiding link being pivoted to said long link.

Th above mentioned objects and advantages aswell as other objects and advantages will be more fullydisclosed in the following specification reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a reclining chair according to our invention,

Fig. 2 is partly a front elevational view of the forms an integral part reclining chair and partly a sectional view of the reclining chair taken on line 22 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a side elevational View of a different embodiment of a reclining chair,

Fig. 4 is a. fragmentary side elevational view of another embodiment of a reclining chair,

Fig. 5'is a side elevational view of a swivel chair according to our invention, the movable elements of the chair being in the sitting position,

Fig. 6 is a side elevational view of the swivel chair similar to that shown in Fig. 5, the movable elements of the chair, however, being in the reclining position,

Fig. '7 is a sectional view of the swivel chair taken on line 1-1 of Fig. 5,

Fig. 8 is a front view of the leg-rest of the swivel chair shown in Fig. 5, and

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the guiding link of the swivel chair shown in Fig. 5.

Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2, ill generally indicates the support of the reclining chair composed of a plurality of tubular elements arranged and connected with each other in a suitable manner. l2 generally indicates the back-rest, I4 generally indicates the seat, and I6 generally indicates the leg-rest.

The seat It extends between the back-rest I2 and the leg-rest l6 and is reinforced by a transverse rod l8. The front end of the seat is bent upwardly and is pivoted to the upper end of the leg-rest at 20. The rear end of the seat is pivoted to the back-rest at 22. Connecting linkmeans comprising a pair of a short extension 24 of the leg-rest l6 and a long link 26 hingedly connected with each other at 28 are arranged on either side of the chair. The short extension 24 of the leg-rest iii; if desired, however, the short extension could be made of a separate piece rigidly connected to the leg-rest. Each long link 26 comprises two tubular rods 30 and 32 arranged next to each other and forms an arm-rest of the chair. The front end of the long link 26- hinged to the extension of the leg-rest H5 is bent downwardly, and the rear end of the long link is pivoted to an inter-,

mediate point 34 of the back-rest l2. The backrest l2, the seat l4 and the connecting link-means 24, 26 form a polygonal structure having unequal sides, the shortest side being the short extension 24 of the leg-rest forming a part of the connecting link-means.

One point of the polygonal structure l2, ll, 24, 26 is pivoted to the support Ill at an intermediate point 36 of the sea If desired, however, the pivot point connecting the polygonal structure with the support may be positioned in the back-rest instead of in the seat.

In order to obtain the various positions of the members of the polygonal structure swingably mounted at 36, the movement of the members of said polygonal structure must be controlled. For this purpose we provide a guiding link 38 on each side of the chair. One end of said guiding link 38 is pivoted to the long link 26 at 40 near the hinge connection 28 between the long link and the extension 24 of the leg-rest. The other end of said guiding link 38 is pivoted to the support I at the point 42 below the seat near the front end of the support, so that the guiding link is substantially parallel to the legrest when the movable elements of the chair are in the sitting position shown in full lines in Fig. 1. When the user of the chair moves the backrest to the left (as seen in Fig. 1), the polygonal structure swings about the pivot point 36. During this swinging movement. the guiding link 38 controls the movement of the long link 26 and the members of the polygonal structure connected therewith. The guiding link 38 swings about the pivot 42 and guides the pivot point 46 of the long link 26 along a circular path. Thus, the leg-rest i6 is lifted and rotated about the pivot 20 and at the same time the front end of the seat 14 is lifted when the back-rest I2 is swung about the pivot 22 and is lowered. The dash and dot lines illustrate the extreme reclining position of the polygonal structure. The sitting position of the polygonal structure is limited by the stops 44 arranged on a transverse rod 46 of the support l8 for engagement with the seat, while the extreme reclining position of the polygonal structure is limited by the edge 48 in the front portion of the arm-rest 26, against which the extension 24 of the leg-rest may abut as shown in dash and dot lines.

The arrangement of the guiding links 38 as described above and the pivotal connection 42 thereof with the support ID at a point below the seat l4 prevents an undesired movement of the polygonal structure from the sitting position into a reclining position, when the user of the chair lets himself down on the chair rather heavily.

In order to secure the sitting position or the reclining position or any intermediate position of the polygonal structure, a locking means is arranged on the chair. According to Figs. 1 and 2, for example, the locking means comprises a rod 50, a gripping sleeve 52 and a clamping screw 54. One end of the rod 50 passing through the gripping sleeve 52 is pivotally mounted on the back-rest 12. The gripping sleeve is swingably mounted on the seat and may be clamped on the rod 50 by means of the clamping screw 54 for holding the polygonal structure in a selected position. If desired, any other suitable locking means for locking selected positions of the polygonal structure may be used.

According to the embodiment of the chair shown in 'Fig. 3, the seat M has a lug 56, and the pivot point 58 between the polygonal structure I 2, I4, 24, 26 and the support In is arranged on said lug 56. Like the embodiment of the chair shown in Fig. 1, one end of the guiding link 38 of the chair shown in Fig. 3 is pivoted to the front end of the arm rest 26 at 46 and the other end of the guiding link is pivoted to the support ID at a point 42 below the seat. The sitting position of a polygonal structure, however, is limited by the contact of th leg-rest 16 with the support I 0, and the extreme reclining position -a lug 86 on the arm-rests 26 at 40.

of the polygonal structure is limited by a stop 66 arranged on the support ID for engagement with a nose 51 projecting from the lug 56. 6| indicates a clamping screw cooperating with a gripping sleeve 63, which is in engagement with a rod 65 pivoted to the support 16 at 61. Said clamping screw 6| may be used in the same way as the clamping screw 54 described above in connection with Fig. 1 for securing a selected position of the polygonal structure.

Fig. 4 illustrates another embodiment of the reclining chair, according to which the pivot point between the polygonal structure and the support In is coaxial with the pivot point 22 between the back-rest l2 and the seat l4.

Figs. 5-9 illustrate a swivel chair according to our invention. The polygonal structure comprises the back-rest l2, the seat l4, the short extension 24 of the leg-rest I 6 and the long link or arm-rest 26 pivotally interconnected with each other at 22, 20, 28 and 34. The front end of the arm-rest is bent downwardly, the front end of the seat, however, is straight. The seat I4 is reinforced bya U-shaped member 62. The pivotal connection of the polygonal structure I 2, I4, 24, 26 with the support 64 is coaxial with the pivot point 22 between the back-rest l2 and the seat 14. The support 64 of tubular material is secured to a plate 66 by means of screws 68. The plate 66 in turn is secured to a shaft 10 rotatably mounted on a stand or base 12. Furthermore, the plate 66 carries a body 14 with a bore 16 and an extension 18. The base of a substantially U-shaped member generally indicated by 82 is swingably arranged in said bore 16 of the body 14. The legs 84 of said U-shaped member 82 form the guiding links on each side of the chair and have their free ends pivoted to Thus, each guiding link is pivotally connected with the armrest 26 and a point 16 on the supporting means 64, 66, 14 below the seat 14, so that the operation of the movable elements of the chair is similar to that shown in above described embodiments.

A set screw 88 arranged on the extension 18 of the body 14 serves to form an adjustable stop for the sitting position of the polygonal structure by engagement with the member 62 of the seat. The extreme reclining position of the polygonal structure is limited by the construction of the joint 28 preventing a rotation of the extension 24 of the leg-rest i6 beyond the position shown inFig. 6.

Locking means 56, 52, 54 similar to that shown in Fig. 1 serve to hold the members of the polygonal structure in any adjusted position.

As best shown in Figs. 7 and 8, the leg-rest I6 is provided with a lateral projection 90 on each side of the chair, against which the user of the chair may set his feet firmly, if desired.

The dash and dot lines in Figs. 5 and 6 indicate the upholstery as it may be arranged on the chair.

According to the embodiments shownin Figs. 1-3 and 5-7, the upper end of the guiding link is pivoted to the arm-rest at a point near the hinge connection between the arm-rest and the short extension ofthe leg -rest. If desired, however, the guiding link could be pivoted to a suitable different point of the arm-rest, which may be spaced from the pivot point between the armrest and the extension of the leg-rest or may coincide with the latter.

Instead of the supports shown in the drawings, supports of the foldable type may be used, if

assasss desired, so that the chair may be used as a deckchair or garden chair, for example.

While we have shown only chairs, we do not wish that the invention be limited to chairs only. The polygonal structure and its pivotal connections to the support may also be arranged in other articles of furniture, such as couches or the like.

We have described preferred embodiments of our invention, but it is clear that numerous changes and omissions may be made without departing from the spirit oi our invention.

7 What we claim is:

1. An adjustable reclining chair comprising: a support, a back-rest, a seat. a leg-rest, said seat extending between said back-rest and said leg-rest and being pivoted thereto, connecting link-means, one connecting link-means being arranged on each side of the chair, each of said connecting link-means including a short extension 01' the leg-rest and along link hingedly connected with each other, the free end of said long link being pivoted to an intermediate point of the back-rest above the pivot point between the back-rest and the seat, said back-rest, said seat and said connecting link-means forming a polygonal structure having unequal sides, one point of said polygonal structure being pivoted to said support, and at least one guiding link, one end of said guiding link being pivoted to said support at a point below the seat, the other end of said guiding link being pivoted to said long link.

2. An adjustable reclining chair comprising: a support, a back-rest, a seat, a leg-rest, said seat extending between said back-rest and said legrest and being pivoted thereto, connecting linkmeans, one connecting link-means being arranged on each side of the chair, each of said connecting link-means including a short extension of the leg-rest and along link hingedly connected with each other, the free end of said long link being pivoted to an intermediate point of the back-rest above the pivot point between the back-rest and the seat, said back-rest, said seat and said connecting link-means forming a polygonal structure having unequal sides, one point of said polygonal structure being pivoted to said support, and at least one guiding link, one end of said guiding link being pivoted to said support at a point below the seat, the other end of said guiding link being pivoted to said long link at a point near the hinge connection between the long link and the extension of the leg-rest.

3. An adjustable reclining chair comprising: a support, a back-rest, a seat, a leg-rest, said seat extending between said back-rest and said leg-rest and being pivotedthereto, connectin link-means, one connecting link-means being arranged on each side of the chair, each of said connecting link-means including a short extension of the leg-rest and along link hingedly connected with each other, the free end of said long link being pivoted to an intermediate point of the back-rest above the pivot point between the back-rest and the seat, said back-rest, said seat and said connecting link-means forming a polygonal structure having unequal sides, one point of 'said polygonal structure being pivoted to said support, and at least one guiding link, one end of said guiding link being pivoted to said support at a point below the seat near the front end of the support, the other end of said guiding link being pivoted to said long link at the front end of the latter.

4. An adjustable reclining chair comprising: a support, a back-rest, a seat, a leg-rest, said seat extending between said back-rest and said le rest and being pivoted thereto, connecting linkmeans, one connecting link-means being arranged on each side of the chair, each of said connecting link-means including a short extension or the leg-rest and a long link hingedly connected with each other, the long link forming the arm-rest oi the chair, the free end of said arm-rest being pivoted to an intermediate point of the back-rest above the pivot point between the back-rest and the seat, said back-rest, said seat and said connecting link-means forming a polygonal structure having unequal sides, one point 01' said polygonal structure being pivoted to said support, and at least one guiding link being pivoted to said support at a point below the seat near the front end 0! the support, the other end of said guiding link being pivoted to said arm-rest at the front end of the latter. a

5. An adjustable reclining chair comprising: a stand, a support, said support being rotatably mounted on said stand, a back-rest, a seat, a leg-rest, said seat extending between said backrest and said leg-rest and being pivoted thereto, connecting link-means, one connecting linkmeans being arranged on each side of the chair, each of said connecting link-means including a short extension of the leg-rest and a long link hingedly connected with each other, the free end of said long link being pivoted to an intermediate point of the back-rest above the pivot point between the back-rest and the seat, said back-rest, said seat and said connecting linkmeans forming a polygonal structure having unequal sides, one point of said polygonal structure being pivoted to said support, and at least one guiding link, one end of said guiding link being pivoted to said support at a point below the seat, the other end of said guiding link being pivoted to "aid polygonal structure.

6. An ad, ustable reclining .chair comprising: a stand, a support, said support being rotatably mounted on said stand, a back-rest, a seat, a le rest, said seat extending between said back-rest and said leg-rest and being pivoted thereto, connecting link-means, one connecting link-means being arranged on each side of the chair, each of said connecting link-means including a short extension of the leg-rest and a long link hingedly connected with each other, the free end of said long link being ivoted to an intermediate point of the back-rest above the pivot point between the back-rest and the seat, said back-rest, said seat and said connecting link-means forming a polygonal structure having unequal sides, one point of said polygonal structure being pivoted to said support, and a substantially U-shaped member, the legs of said U-shaped member forming guiding links on each side of the chair, the free end of each guiding link being pivoted to said polygonal structure, and the base of said U-shaped member being hinged to said support at a point below the seat.

7. An adjustable reclining chair comprising: a stand, a support, said support being rotatably mounted on said stand, a back-rest, a seat, a legthe back rest and the seat, said back-rest, said seat an said connecting link-means forming .a poiygonal structure having unequal sides, one out of said polygonal structure being pivoted to said support, and a substantially U-shaped member, the legs of said U-shaped member forming guiding links on each side of the chair, the free end of each-guiding link being pivoted to said long link at the front end of the latter, and the base of said U-shaped member being hinged to said support at a oint below the seat.

8. An adjustable reclining chair comprising: a stand, a support, said support being rotatably mounted on said stand, a back-rest, a seat, a leg rest, said seat extending between said back-rest and said leg-rest and being pivoted thereto, connecting link-means, one connecting link-means being arranged on each side of the chair, each of said connecting link-means including a short extension of the leg-rest and a long link hingedly ,connected with each other, the free end 01 said long link'being pivoted to an intermediate point of the back-rest above the pivot point between the back-rest and the seat, said back-rest, said seat and said connecting link-means forming a polygonal structure having unequal sides, one point of said polygonal structure being pivoted to said support, and a substantially U-shaped member, the legs of said U-shaped member forming guiding links on each side of the chair, the free end of each guiding link being pivoted to said long link, and the base of said U-shaped member being hinged to said support at a point below the seat.

9. An adjustable reclining chair as claimed in claim 1, said seat having a lug, and said lug being pivoted to the support.

10. An adjustable reclining chair as claimed in claim 1, wherein the seat is pivoted to the support at an intermediate point of the seat.

11. An adjustable reclining chair as claimed in claim 1, wherein the seat is pivoted to the support at the intersection of the seat and the backrest.

12. An adjustable reclining chair as claimed in claim 1, wherein the long links of said connecting l nk-means form the arm-rests of the chair.

13. An adjustable reclining chair comprising: a

' support, a back-rest, a seat, a leg-rest, said seat extending between said back-rest and said legrest and being pivoted thereto, connecting linkmeans, one connecting link means being arranged on each side of the chair, each of said connecting link-means including a short exten- I sion of the leg-rest and a long link hingedly connected with each other, the free end of said long link being pivoted to an intermediate point fot the back-rest above the pivot point between the back-rest and the seat,v-saidback-rest, said seat and said connecting link-means forming a polygonal structure having unequal sides, one point of said polygonal structure being pivoted to said support, and at least one guiding link, one end of said guiding link being pivoted to said support at a point below the seat adjacent the level oi the seat, the other end of said guiding link being pivoted to said long link.

14. An adjustable reclining chair comprising: a support, a back-rest, a seat, a leg-rest, said seat extending between said back-rest and said leg-rest and being pivoted thereto, connecting link-means, one connecting link-means being arranged on each side of the chair, each of said connecting link-means including a short extension of the leg-rest and a long link hingedly connected with each other, the free end of said long link being pivoted to an intermediate point of the back-rest above the pivot point between the back-rest and the seat, said back-rest, said seat and said connecting link-means forming a polygonal structure having unequal sides, one point of said polygonal structure being pivoted to said support, and at least one guiding link, one end of said guiding link being pivoted to said support at a point below the seat, the other end of said guiding link being pivoted to said long link at the front end of the latter.

15. An adjustable reclining chair comprising: a stand, a support, said support being rotatably mounted on said stand, a back-rest, a seat, a legrest, said seat extending between said back-rest and said leg-rest and being pivoted thereto, connecting link-means, one connecting link-means being arranged on each side of the chair, each of said connecting link-means indluding a short extension of the leg-rest and a long link hingedly connected with each other, the free end of said long link being pivoted to an intermediate point of the back-rest above the pivot point between the back-rest and the seat, said back-rest, said seat and said connecting link-means forming a polygonal structure having unequal sides, one point of said polygonal structure being pivoted to said support, and at least one guiding link, one end of said guiding link being pivoted to said support at a point below the seat, the other end of said guiding link being pivoted to said long link.

ANTON IORENZ. HANS LUCKHARDT. 

